by Amy Boyles
Rufus didn’t stop. “These people threw me out. Me. The greatest sorcerer they’d ever seen. They got rid of me, left me outside the walls to rot without offering a chance to redeem myself.”
“You play vampire on people. What’s there to redeem?”
He chuckled. “That’s only one side. The side that believes what I do is for evil. I’m not trying to hurt anyone. I want these people to flourish, to be more than the measly peasants they are.”
Peasants? Who was he? King of the world?
“What makes you think anyone wants your help?” I finally said.
“We’re witches, Pepper. Witches, wizards and sorcerers, but we’re still racked with disease, have arthritis, grow old.”
I frowned. “In other words, live a human life?”
“Yes! Why? Why are we doing that when we could tap unimaginable power? You, for instance. You could bend metal, build buildings, destroy anything you wanted—with your mind. You’re only hindered by what you believe hinders you. And what are you doing? Running a familiar shop in the middle of a cotton field.”
“I like my shop,” I said rather pathetically.
Because I mean, since he put it that way, he made us sound like demigods. Like more than what we were.
“You’re acting like we’re superheroes,” I pointed out.
“We are. Now you’re getting it. But we’re bound by what’s dictated to us. By myself, I don’t have the power to do half the things I know I could be capable of. But with help, I could.”
“What help? My help? No way, Jose. You can hit the road on that thought, Jack.”
“My name is Rufus.”
I nearly slapped my forehead. For someone so smart, or so evil, boy did he lack common sense. Or at least a working knowledge of popular culture.
I was about to tell him that when a blast from a shotgun rang in the sky. My gaze swiveled to the scene on the lawn.
Garrick stood, shotgun raised and aimed at the creature. I stared at Axel, praying to all that was good in the world that he hadn’t been hit because I had no doubt of what was in that barrel—silver bullets.
The werewolf whirled toward the men. He looked unharmed. I released a breath.
“And the moment I’ve been waiting for has arrived,” Rufus said.
I didn’t know if somehow Rufus manipulated the scene the way he wanted or if luck simply worked in his cotton-picking favor, but what happened next made the blood pool at my feet.
Garrick shot again, this time hitting the werewolf in the hip. I screamed. The wolf tumbled back with such a force that the beast crashed into the building beside the hole that the truck had made.
The station exterior, probably already weakened from the initial damage, collapsed as the creature shot inside with such a force that he hit Rufus’s cell.
The bars caved in a shower of dust and plaster.
Before the police could rush inside, Rufus stepped out of his cell. He straightened the collar of his jacket, smiled at me and said, “Good luck.”
With that, he snapped his fingers and disappeared.
TWENTY-THREE
There was little time to process what had happened with Rufus because at that moment the werewolf gazed up at me. His dark eyes met mine, and my breath hitched.
I narrowed my gaze until I felt my brows pinch. “Axel? I know you’re in there. You have to be.”
The wolf stared at me. I reached out again. I mean, I can communicate with animals, y’all. There’s no reason why I shouldn’t be able to communicate with Axel in his werewolf form. Surely somewhere deep in his consciousness there was a tiny piece that remembered who he truly was—not a beast but a good man. A solid man. One who would fight pretty hard, if not to the death, for me.
Okay, maybe I was jumping ahead on his feelings, there. But I felt in my gut that the connection between us dug deeper than on the human level. If I tried, I felt I could connect with the beast.
“Axel?” I said again.
The beast cringed, and in that moment I knew somewhere in his mind that Axel had heard me.
Or perhaps it was the wound in his side.
I stepped forward, hand outstretched. “Axel?”
He craned his neck as if to sniff my hand.
Right then, Garrick Young and company barreled into the station. “Grab him! Throw a rope around him!”
The werewolf jumped to his feet, shook his head and launched himself through the hole.
He dashed to the left, into a copse of trees, and vanished from sight.
I whirled on Garrick. “He’s wounded. We have to go after him.”
The sheriff grabbed my arms. “I hit him with a sonic blast, not an actual bullet. He’s not wounded, but I hoped it would be enough to knock him out.”
Garrick turned to his men. “Sound the alarm. Get everyone inside their homes. There’s a dangerous beast loose in Magnolia Cove. I want officers on the perimeter. I need a spell. A bubble spell.”
Another man said, “I’m on it.”
Anger blazed on Garrick’s face. “No one leaves Magnolia Cove and no one enters. You understand?”
The officer nodded. “Got it.”
In that instant Betty Craple marched through the hole that the werewolf had created. She shoved up her sleeves. “Y’all need some help working a containment spell?”
Garrick pulled off his hat and swiped away the line of sweat covering his forehead. “Help would be great.”
“But wait,” I said. “Rufus is gone. He’s going somewhere—”
And then it hit me exactly where he was headed.
“That nuisance is the least of our problems,” Garrick said. “We’ve got Axel in full wolf loose in town. That’s my main concern.”
“I don’t think he’ll hurt anyone,” I said. I didn’t know how I knew this, but I felt it. It was like a remnant from the moment I’d connected with Axel. “Not unless he’s cornered.”
Okay, so yes, the wolf had chased me from the house to the station. Yes, he’s snapped and snarled. But when he’d been lying on the floor, hurt and dazed, I’d touched him. I knew I had. Maybe in that moment I’d reached the real Axel somewhere underneath. Perhaps he’d awoken inside the beast enough to hold on to his consciousness, remember who he was and not hurt anyone.
Of course, he’d run off, so that didn’t help.
“He’s a werewolf, ma’am,” another officer said. “If you’ve met one, you’ve met ’em all. Feral as they come. They’ll kill whoever, whenever they can.”
“Garrick?” I said, tears filling my eyes. “Promise me you won’t hurt him.”
Garrick squeezed my shoulder in a sort of brotherly way. “I’ll do my best, but Pepper, if Axel hurts anyone, he’ll be giving in to the very fears this community already has about him. The fact that he’s even running wild doesn’t bode well for his future here.”
I started to crumple but remembered I had to be strong. There were things to do, and I had to do them. The police couldn’t help me, which meant I was on my own.
At that moment my aunts Mint and Licky walked into the station.
A slow, curling smile crept over my face. My aunts were chaos witches, which meant havoc and mayhem followed everywhere they went. Which also meant that for what I needed to do, they would be perfect partners in crime.
“What the heck happened here?” Mint said.
“Looks like a tornado hit the place,” Licky added.
I grabbed my aunts by their elbows. “Listen, I need your help.”
“Anything,” Mint said.
We stepped outside. Suddenly a siren blared to life. At the same time a bluish shield appeared in the sky.
“We’re trapped,” Mint said.
Garrick’s voice boomed over the town. “People of Magnolia Cove. You are on lockdown. There is a dangerous werewolf loose inside our walls. Please do not attempt to take this creature on your own. If you see him, report his presence to the police immediately. But remember, do not engage on your own. The creatur
e is highly dangerous.”
“Oh,” Mint said, “sounds like we’ve got a real problem.”
“You don’t even know the half of it,” I said. “But I need your help.”
“Are we going back to Betty’s for facials?” Licky said, wide-eyed. She was Amelia’s mother and the character resemblance was pretty spot-on. They were so much alike it was almost scary.
“We’re going to the house to grab Hugo, my dragon,” I said. “But after that, we’ve got two places to go.”
“Why?” Mint said.
I nearly growled my next words. “Because we need to stop Rufus from destroying this town. To do that, we need a block of labradorite.”
“Do you know where to find it?” Licky said.
I gazed up at the bluish sky. A pang of fear pinged my heart. Axel would not be safe—not until I had the stone and we’d gotten rid of Rufus.
I ground my teeth and said, “Yes. I know exactly where to find it.”
TWENTY-FOUR
Mint and Licky each hooked an arm around my elbow. “What are we doing?” I said.
Mint laughed. “There’s more than one way to fly through the air.”
Confused, I said, “There is?”
Licky nodded. “Mint and I’ve been doing this for years. Before our mother ever let us get our cast-iron skillets, we’d sneak out a window at night and fly around town to see our boyfriends.”
“Boy, you two were a handful, weren’t you?”
Mint winked at me. “Still are.”
With that, we lifted into the air. I pedaled my feet as if riding an invisible bicycle because it was very weird and I didn’t know what to do with my limbs.
“Hang on,” Licky said. “We go fast.”
She wasn’t kidding. We dashed through the air at top speed. The wind blew my hair, and boy, was I going to need a hairbrush by the time we got to the house. But unfortunately there wasn’t going to be time for beauty.
We landed on the sidewalk about two minutes later. “Thank you,” I said.
We dashed inside the house and found Amelia and Cordelia pacing the room.
“What’s going on?” Amelia said.
“Axel broke Rufus’s curse on me. He’s now a werewolf and running loose in town. Rufus is also loose. The police are after Axel, but we’ve got to stop Rufus before it’s too late.”
Concern slashed over Cordelia’s face. “Why?”
“Because he wants to ruin this town. He’s angry and out for revenge. I need Hugo. He might be able to help.”
Amelia shot Cordelia a look. “And what about us? We want to help, too.”
I gnawed my bottom lip. “I don’t want anyone to be hurt. This is dangerous.”
Amelia fisted her hands to her hips. “Hey, we’re the sweet tea witches. We stick together through thick and thin.”
Cordelia nodded in agreement.
I shrugged. “Okay, then. The more the merrier. Let me grab Hugo. Where is he?”
“In his cage, I think,” Amelia said.
I raced upstairs and took the sleeping dragon from his cage. “Wake up, boy. I need your help today.”
“Mama,” he said.
I pulled him out and placed him on my shoulders.
“Where you going, sugar?” Mattie said from the window seat.
“Mattie, I’m so glad you’re here.”
She stretched. “Sounds like there’s trouble.”
“You wouldn’t believe it. Listen, I need you to get a message to Betty. She’s at the police station. Think you can do that?”
She blinked at me. “Since she doesn’t own a cell phone, I’ll do it.”
“Great.”
I gave her the message and opened the window so she could scamper down the roof and onto the ground.
“Be careful,” I said. “There’s a werewolf on the loose.”
Mattie laughed. “Everyone knows wolves can’t climb trees.”
“Then you’ll be just fine.”
When I got back downstairs, Mint, Licky, Cordelia and Amelia stood waiting.
I exhaled a deep shot of air. Nerves raced through my body, firing all over. It made me feel like I’d received some sort of jacked-up adrenaline shot. My fingers trembled and my knees were jelly, but I ignored it. There was a lot of work to do and very little time.
I forced a confident smile and said, “Okay, this is what we’re going to do.”
“I know you’re in there, Amulet! I’ve got the key to that box.”
We reached Samuel Amulet’s house a short time later. I’d knocked on the door several times, but Amulet hadn’t answered. My hopes had crashed to the ground, but then Licky said something that lifted them.
“He just opened a curtain on the top floor and looked down.”
“So he’s ignoring us?” I said.
“Appears so,” Mint said. She cracked her knuckles. “Want Licky and I to make him so hot he thinks it’s cooler outside than in?”
I swiped an arm across my head, removing a sheet of sweat. “It’s as humid as the jungle today. Only an idiot would think he’d be better off out here.”
Licky clapped her hands. “How about a good old-fashioned itching spell? The best ones are those we place down a person’s pants.”
I held up a hand. “That’s not going to happen. No. I’m going for something nice and easy.”
“What’s that?” Amelia said.
I smiled. “Good old-fashioned scare tactics.” I stepped off the porch and down to the walkway. “Amulet, I’ve got a dragon ready to burn down your house if you don’t open this door right now. I’ve got the key. I only need the labradorite for a few minutes. Then you can have it back.”
Finally I heard the snick of a lock. Samuel peeked his head out from the door. He eyed the four of us plus one dragon. “You promise to give it back?”
I nodded. “Listen, all of Magnolia Cove needs this right now. Please.”
He ushered us inside. The interior was dark and smelled of old people. Lace doilies were draped over every bare surface, even the drapes.
“You live here?” Cordelia said.
“Inherited it from my grandparents. I’m not much for decorating,” he said.
“Obviously,” Amelia said quietly.
He led us to a round side table and whipped yet another doily from a square shape, revealing a colorful blue and green box with the same etching as the key.
“That’s the one I saw at the Vault,” Amelia said.
I dragged my gaze to Samuel. “How’d you manage to steal it?”
Samuel swiped a finger over his lips. “Let’s just say I have connections—someone inside helped me out.”
“Oh, they could be fired for that,” Amelia said.
Samuel shot her a scathing look. “I know. That’s why I’m not saying who it is.”
“That’s good,” she added, “because they could be arrested, thrown in jail, and that’s after they lose their job.”
I rolled my eyes. “Let’s just get on with it. There’s not much time.”
I pulled the key from my pocket. Lord, was I thankful that I’d snagged it back from Axel after leaving the Vault. If I hadn’t, I wouldn’t even know where to begin looking for it.
I held my breath as I pushed the key inside the lock and turned. The tumblers flipped, and the key moved easily. The lock sprang, and the lid popped slightly.
I peeled back the cover, and there it was. The rock of labradorite was easily one of the most beautiful stones I’d ever seen. Veins of aqua and green roped over darker hues of blue and black. It was absolutely breathtaking.
“So that’s it,” I whispered.
Samuel leaned over so far a line of drool dripped from his mouth.
“Gross,” I said. “Get a grip.”
He wiped it away. “Sorry, but I’ve waited so long for it to be mine.”
Before he could grab it, I snatched the stone. Raw energy swirled inside the thing. I could feel it living, nearly breathing just below the surface of the
stone. Oh yes, we needed this. Without it, we’d be lost.
“You’ll be waiting a hair longer. A deal’s a deal—unless you want to face off against Hugo, there. He might look young, but he can barbecue just about anything.”
Samuel shrank back. “No, no. Take it. I trust you.”
I squeezed his shoulder. “Thank you.”
I opened my purse and laid the stone inside. Let me tell you, that block of rock wasn’t light. I hugged the bag to my chest, and we left. Once outside, I hopped on my skillet and turned to look at my family.
“Everyone ready?” I said.
They all nodded.
“Let’s go.”
The five of us lifted off from the ground. Hugo flew in the air beside me, following along like an obedient familiar, which is what he pretty much was.
When we landed at our destination, worry immediately filled me.
“What in holy heck?” Amelia said, touching down.
“That’s going to be a problem,” Cordelia said. “Too bad Zach’s not here to help. With all his mystical knowledge of history, I bet he’d have a solution.”
I shot her a hopeful look. “Can you call him?”
She nodded. “I think he hates me, but I’ll do it.” My cousin pulled out her phone. “Let’s hope he’s still in town.”
“Fingers crossed,” Amelia said.
I stared at the twin lions guarding the Vault. They paced back and forth, growling and snarling. I’d made it past them one time before, so I wouldn’t have been worried if it hadn’t been for the red stuff dripping from their mouths.
“Is that blood?” Amelia said.
A shot of panic zipped down my spine. “That’s what it looks like. Oh dear Lord, what did they kill?”
“More like who?” Licky said.
Cordelia strolled back. “Zach’s already left town. He can’t get back in.”
“Great,” I said, “’cause it looks like we’ve got carnivorous lions on our hands.”
Mint squinted at the scene. She pointed at something. “Is that a tomato?”
“Where?” I said.
“There.”